How to de-escalate crises, by expert

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

The Chairman of Health Assur Limited and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM),  ‘Bade Adeshina, has canvassed a wide range solutions for crisis de-escalation.

Adeshina lamented that the crisis, which began as a health crisis, has degenerated into a humanitarian crisis, and ended up as a security crisis in the last ten months.

He spoke at the NIM’s Management Day lecture in Lagos.

Quoting the World Economic Forum, 2020, Adeshina said an aggregate loss of the health and economic crises is estimated at $9 trillion between 2020 and 2021. He warned that the world needs to de-escalate crisis to avert a humanitarian disaster.

He said: “Crisis is an unstable event or series of events that can emanate from an individual, group, corporate and the government, which can cause disruption in normal business operations, economic, social, reputation and political damage in the society.

“Nigeria is facing her worst economic crisis with over 82.9 million persons classified as poor by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Nigerian Living Standards Survey (NLSS) Report, May 2020.

This, the Institute of Bankers’ Fellow noted, amounts to 40.1 percent of the population.

“Nigeria since its last recession in 2016-2017, has witnessed a collapse in the price of crude oil,  volatile movement in the exchange rate, rising inflation and food prices, dwindling Foreign Direct Investment,  increasing unemployment, reduced public confidence in the government, Northern region unrest coupled with the Global pandemic; amongst others,” he said.

Adeshina, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), stated that businesses must be prepared for a crisis, because “it is a matter of when and not if.

”Crisis should not be perceived as a threat to avoid, rather the focus should be when it comes, how prepared is the organisation to handle it? If a crisis is well managed, it reduces the damage and impact on an organisation and enables the organisation to recover quickly.”

He proffered that a credible crisis management framework was critical to help maintain confidence in the people, system, and government and it minimises risks.

“Proper and quick crisis management is critical for public relations and reputation.

Since crises come in several forms, it is recommended that organisations should have in place a crisis management plan,” he added.

He lamented the increasing ‘unmodellable’ behaviours especially at the top-most leadership levels.

Adeshina, an investment banker for over three decades, blamed the dwindling economy on the inability of governments to curb the high rate of people living below the poverty line.

Citing the recent #EndSARS protest, he said it was a pointer to end bad governance and a wake-up call to those in leadership positions to begin to institutionalise good governance.

“Attention should be given to business continuity, cost management, productivity, and implementing safety measures, however, innovation-led growth should not be totally ignored,” he said.